What portion of your income should be spent on cars ??
Discussion
RobM77 said:
Audemars said:
Buying a car should be like buying two large kitchen/househols appliances. It shouldn't be like paying rent or a mortgage.
So for the average wage (approx £30k per annum) person £3k max every 10 years.
So for the average wage (approx £30k per annum) person £3k max every 10 years.
oh, he said every 10 years.... lol. good luck!
SuperchargedVR6 said:
Stupid numbers anyway. Someone earning £100K is only going to spend £10K on a car?! Yeah right!
Er, my friend earns around that amount and drives an Outback that's worth £3k on a good day. In fact I know quite a few people earning well into six figs who don't give a toss about cars and who drive the same runabout they've had for years. There's a high court judge in my village who's still driving an Escort (a s
t one, not a Cossie or anything like that). DonkeyApple said:
okgo said:
DonkeyApple said:
There are plenty of people earning north of that income figure who spend much less than £10k on cars.
My S3 cost me £9k! I guess its the whole "if you're on 6 figures you're laughing" when the reality is quite a long way from that...Edited by okgo on Thursday 30th March 12:42
DonkeyApple said:
Judges do love escorts.
Edited by SWoll on Thursday 30th March 13:17
eltax91 said:
In my industry there are plenty of people on the fabled '6 figs'. They all stack up loads of miles for work. Half of them want nice cars and accept depreciation, the other half hate the waste of money and choose a £5k car every 3 years or so. The sales guy I'm aligned to is rocking a 2010 mondeo and his OTE is in the region of £150k
I have a lot of sympathy with this view. I don't earn 6 figs but I'm doing OK. I am currently doing 2000+ business miles a month in a crappy sub-1k Mondeo with 130k+ on the clock. I don't buy something better because the driving I do is boring and I wouldn't want to abuse a nice car with it. The other day I discovered a new scrape that I have gained in the hotel car park, this time from a white car. If I had a decent car I'd be p*ssed off, on a 2003 Mondy I don't give a toss. Tomorrow I will get in the thing and rag it up the M25, M11, A14, A1, M62 to home. Great drivers' roads all. Not. Why should I spend 2x or 3x as much to do the same journey when the tool I have for the job is perfectly adequate? No, I wouldn't enjoy the drive any more in an A6, 5 series, or X-whatever.battered said:
eltax91 said:
In my industry there are plenty of people on the fabled '6 figs'. They all stack up loads of miles for work. Half of them want nice cars and accept depreciation, the other half hate the waste of money and choose a £5k car every 3 years or so. The sales guy I'm aligned to is rocking a 2010 mondeo and his OTE is in the region of £150k
I have a lot of sympathy with this view. I don't earn 6 figs but I'm doing OK. I am currently doing 2000+ business miles a month in a crappy sub-1k Mondeo with 130k+ on the clock. I don't buy something better because the driving I do is boring and I wouldn't want to abuse a nice car with it. The other day I discovered a new scrape that I have gained in the hotel car park, this time from a white car. If I had a decent car I'd be p*ssed off, on a 2003 Mondy I don't give a toss. Tomorrow I will get in the thing and rag it up the M25, M11, A14, A1, M62 to home. Great drivers' roads all. Not. Why should I spend 2x or 3x as much to do the same journey when the tool I have for the job is perfectly adequate? No, I wouldn't enjoy the drive any more in an A6, 5 series, or X-whatever.KungFuPanda said:
I'm far from earning 6 figures but managed to trade up to an Audi A8. Absolutely love it but whenever I have to drive far, I take my mums trusty old 2006 Mondeo to keep the miles off my own. Done over 100,000 miles, not worth a lot but it's damn reliable. Over 50mpg on a run too. The trade off is that I pay for the servicing and MOTs.
I never understand this logic. Buys nice comfortable long distance car, leaves it at home and drives Mondeo to save money 
. The whole point of cars like the A8 is covering distance in comfort, if I couldn't afford to run it I would rather sell it.TurboHatchback said:
KungFuPanda said:
I'm far from earning 6 figures but managed to trade up to an Audi A8. Absolutely love it but whenever I have to drive far, I take my mums trusty old 2006 Mondeo to keep the miles off my own. Done over 100,000 miles, not worth a lot but it's damn reliable. Over 50mpg on a run too. The trade off is that I pay for the servicing and MOTs.
I never understand this logic. Buys nice comfortable long distance car, leaves it at home and drives Mondeo to save money . The whole point of cars like the A8 is covering distance in comfort, if I couldn't afford to run it I would rather sell it.I've owned older cars, now I own new cars, they are much better places to be, especially when I do 1000 miles a week, I want perfect refinement, which you can get today in a Ford Focus, 15 years ago it was 7 series territory, I want adaptive cruise and decent LED headlights. Motorway driving is a chore. I want something comftable, the same reason I bought a better quality sofa when I could have spent £500 on a uncomftable one.
okgo said:
SWoll said:
Edited by SWoll on Thursday 30th March 13:17
t to make you feel like you're beating the neighbours at life. But on top of that there is the fact that you tend to want to pay more for housing etc and use that income for a nicer overall quality of life.
Edited by DonkeyApple on Thursday 30th March 15:10
I'm actually a bit OCD about this... and I actually limit myself to 10%
This is not because of any third party 'rule' it simply works for me. I have spent much more in the past, almost 50% but I hated driving around in something worth that much! When I reduced the value, I found I was able to enjoy the car, and driving much more.
I also save 10% of my wages each month for modifications, which I'll do up until I've owned the car halfway through ownership (yes I plan how long I'm going to keep a car well in advance - usually about 4 years)
Maybe I'm weird, but it works well for me
This is not because of any third party 'rule' it simply works for me. I have spent much more in the past, almost 50% but I hated driving around in something worth that much! When I reduced the value, I found I was able to enjoy the car, and driving much more.
I also save 10% of my wages each month for modifications, which I'll do up until I've owned the car halfway through ownership (yes I plan how long I'm going to keep a car well in advance - usually about 4 years)
Maybe I'm weird, but it works well for me
DonkeyApple said:
I wasn't really thinking of those things. It's more the fact that beyond that level you start considering education costs etc. Plus, needing to save more to be able to iron out any income inconsistencies so as not to risk a change in lifestyle. And obviously ensuring you are putting away enough of today's income to create an income tomorrow when society stops paying you for your time.
But on top of that there is the fact that you tend to want to pay more for housing etc and use that income for a nicer overall quality of life.
Well you do if you have kids. Or want them. I don't, and don't. But even still, it isn't a passport to the high life, as you well know. I live in a sBut on top of that there is the fact that you tend to want to pay more for housing etc and use that income for a nicer overall quality of life.
Edited by DonkeyApple on Thursday 30th March 15:10
tty flat in the suburbs 
okgo said:
Well you do if you have kids. Or want them. I don't, and don't. But even still, it isn't a passport to the high life, as you well know. I live in a stty flat in the suburbs
Ruling out offspring certainly changes the figures dramatically. It's the Pink Pound scenario but without the walk. tty flat in the suburbs TurboHatchback said:
I never understand this logic. Buys nice comfortable long distance car, leaves it at home and drives Mondeo to save money . The whole point of cars like the A8 is covering distance in comfort, if I couldn't afford to run it I would rather sell it.
Totally unrelated to the topic but I drove one of our sales guys Mondeos from Portsmouth to Manchester and back the other day. I was so impressed with it. Really comfortable for munching motorways, much much nicer than my old S5 . The whole point of cars like the A8 is covering distance in comfort, if I couldn't afford to run it I would rather sell it.Audemars said:
Buying a car should be like buying two large kitchen/household appliances. It shouldn't be like paying rent or a mortgage.
So for the average wage (approx £30k per annum) person £3k max every 10 years.
Well that is tbe sensible approach. Problem is that most people are not intellectual enough to be financially sensible.
So what your saying is someone sensible earning £300k a year can barely afford a Civic Type R?So for the average wage (approx £30k per annum) person £3k max every 10 years.
Well that is tbe sensible approach. Problem is that most people are not intellectual enough to be financially sensible.
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